Anti-virus software is a software utility that detects, prevents, and removes viruses, and other malware from a computer. Anti-virus software looks at data — web pages, files, software, applications — traveling over the Internet to your devices. It searches for known threats and monitors the behavior of all programs on your machine, flagging behaviour that it does not recognize or finds suspicious.
We have seen occasional instances of Sumac being blocked by Anti-virus software. Though not common, this can occur when trying to download Sumac on to your machine for the first time, or when you are sending a bulk email using Sumac. This does not indicate that there is something wrong with Sumac, nor does it indicate that there is something wrong with your Anti-virus software. Rather, it indicates that the settings for your Anti-virus software are not compatible with Sumac, and need to be adjusted to allow you to proceed with your work.
An installation example:
Anti-virus scanners often identify viruses based on their behaviour. For example, when you download an infected file from the internet and run it, the virus might install files onto your computer or download other malicious files from the Internet, so a virus scanner might pay special attention to this kind of behaviour.
When you install Sumac, Sumac also downloads additional files that Sumac requires to run properly, and places these files on your computer. This means that if your virus scanner is paying attention to this kind of behaviour, that virus scanner could incorrectly identify Sumac as malicious even though there is no threat.
Something to reassure you here is that our Sumac installer is signed, and this helps to further confirm that when you download Sumac, you are downloading the genuine Sumac installer from our Sumac servers.
A bulk email example:
When sending emails, some Anti-virus software will have settings that scan emails you receive in your email client (e.g. Outlook or Thunderbird), as well as scanning emails you are sending through your email client (e.g. Outlook, Thunderbird, or Sumac in the case that you are using Sumac's Send Bulk Email tool).
Some Anti-virus software are more aggressive when scanning emails you are sending through your email client. If this is the case for you, your Anti-virus software may not recognize Sumac, and as a result would block Sumac from connecting to your server to send a bulk email. In this case, you could adjust your Anti-virus settings to add Sumac as a trusted application, or to turn off the setting that scans emails you are trying to send, and this would allow you to proceed with your work.
Keep in mind that because this means adjusting the settings of your Anti-virus software, it is a good idea to connect with your Anti-virus software's support team directly if you have any questions. They should be able to help you find a protection setting that is right for you, and does not impede your ability to send emails
And of course, if you have additional questions, let the Sumac support team know (
support@sumac.com)!